IEP’s / Ed Law

I am presenting tomorrow at a conference on Dravet’s syndrome which is a rare type of seizure disorder.  Here is an excellent resource on this rare disorder.  If your child has Dravet’s it is important that you work to educate the school, especially the nurse and the SLP, since schools are often  slow to accept [...]

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Milwaukee Public Schools have been cited in a recent report  for the overuse of suspensions.  Over reliance on suspensions reflect a lack of effective positive behavioral interventions in favor of "remove the child, remove the problem." The reality is that when the student comes back to school he or she is even more likely to [...]

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What can a juvenile do if a juvenile court judge operates on “blind trust” with regard to the school system? Doesn’t the court have to be told the student has an IEP? Shouldn’t the judge be required to have complete school records? The school labeled the student “disruptive” and “defiant” for . . . . [...]

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After a  4 1/2-week jury trial, the first damages case against the Hawai’i DOE went to the jury 24 hours ago. Three more cases alleging deliberate indifference on the part of the DOE are poised to go forward. What are the odds that the jury will find for the child and family? We don’t know. We [...]

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As a parent, your ultimate goal is to educate school personnel so they want to help your child. The most important ability to use in resolving problems with the school is to put yourself in the shoes of the people on the other side and answer these questions: * How do they see the problem? [...]

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How long should a school have to get me a copy of the revised IEP after my son’s IEP meeting? You should get a copy of your child’s IEP right away. There is no reason for any delay. Write a short polite letter to request a copy. If the school wants to send you a [...]

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Do I have a right to observe the class before agreeing (or not agreeing) to a placement for my child? The special ed director said I cannot observe the class because of confidentiality issues with the other children. Some schools take the position that parents and/or their representatives cannot observe a child in the classroom [...]

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On Thursday, September 18, Pete and Pam presented a special education law and advocacy training program in Chapel Hill, NC. After checking in, we picked up an email from an old friend who advised that  Disability Rights of North Carolina (DRNC) had just filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Wake County Board of [...]

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A few days ago, a parent asked how she could prove that her child was receiving instruction from the aide, not the teacher. Another parent suggested that she put a video camera or recording device in her child’s backpack so the child could gather evidence to support the parent’s claim. What??? We NEVER recommend that [...]

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Check out Iowa, New Hampshire, Georgia and South Carolina. Take advantage of our busy schedule and attend a conference near you. Visit our schedule page for a full listing of Wrightslaw conferences. Go to Source

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Is your child making acceptable progress in special ed? Is your child on track to meet the measurable annual goals in the IEP?  Until recently, most parents and teachers could not answer that question with confidence. Reliable information about appropriate research-based programs and objective ways to measure and monitor progress were not available or not [...]

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We’ve been blogging about AYP lately. Here’s the just released AYP ratings for VA – (Wrightslaw is headquartered here). Virginia and 74 percent of the commonwealth’s public schools met or exceeded all No Child Left Behind (NCLB) objectives during the 2007-2008 school year as student achievement increased on Standards of Learning and other statewide tests [...]

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DIR which was formerly known as Greenspan/Floortime has worked very well for a number of children with autism that I represent. The following article is from Michele Ricamato, a certified DIR therapist, SLP and a well respected colleague of mine, who has dedicated her professional life to working with children with autism and other disabilities [...]

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